Jaap's corner

It is decided! David Breitman and I are going to record Beethoven in July 2013! Everything is fixed as far as the recording is concerned. Now we enter into the exciting and interesting phase of deciding how we want to distribute our baby. With all the new possibilities that are around at the moment is is difficult for us to decide which road(s) to follow. Information is the key at the moment!

07/01/2014 11:51 Simplicity

"Simplicity is the final achievement.
After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art."

Chopin

10/09/2013 18:51 We did it!

So it's done, our Beethoven project. Quite an intense week it was. And now, after it is all over, how do I feel about it?
Against my better judgement I hoped for a feeling of "Yes, a job well done! Proud of our achievement!", but alas, these sentiments are absent. I guess I'll never learn...
What I am proud of is the work I put in on the cello front before going into the studio. That was very interesting and taught me a lot. About myself, about the cello and about my life with the cello.
The road is what really matters, not what may or may not lie waiting for us at the end of it.
So now we wait! We practice patience for a few months till we get to hear what we have done. Quite exciting actually!
I may very well write on this lovely white 'paper' more often, it's very peaceful, not knowing if anybody will ever read any of this. The big silence...

25/12/2012 22:40 Christmas

"Even when life's challenges weigh us down, make us unrecognizable to ourselves, we can always begin again. There is always time to thrive. It's not too late to be inspired, it's not too late to change. It's not too late."

Not my words, no, Steve Jobs in his speech. Very inspiring. Other things and people I find inspiring today?
Watching and listening to Carlos Kleiber.
Practicing random acts of Kindness.
The open faces of children.
"It is the heart that sees"

"We cannot despair about mankind knowing that Mozart was a man".
Albert Einstein

I heard this while listening to 'Radio Mozart', a 24/7 channel completely dedicated to, yes, Mozart. However romantic and silly this may be, for a brief moment I felt connected and happy realizing how many people share this love and understanding of Mozart's art and humanity.

24/10/2012 20:56 A new beginning?

After all these years, finally decided to start writing. Nothing seems to come easy to me. Anyway, the reason for starting this now is my, our wild idea to record the Beethoven sonatas. No recording companies are standing in line, ha!, so we'll have to find other ways to finance this project. By the way, my good friend and great pianist David Breitman is fully committed to this!
Ok, so far so good, back to work, practice and preparation and my cat!

08/01/2006 22:20

The very beginning of a promising new year. As much as I love Mozart, he wrote music for the angels, do we really need a special year for him? I have a whole year to think about it!